As the need for effective scalable interventions for mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, and stress has grown, the digital delivery of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) has gained interest as a promising intervention in this domain.

This study aims to evaluate the changes in perceived stress following a 10-week digital MBSR program that combined an app-based digital program with weekly one-on-one remote sessions with a health coach.

This study used a retrospective, observational design. A total of 229 participants with moderate-to-high perceived stress scores as assessed by the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)-10 enrolled in the 10-week Vida Health MBSR program. The program included weekly remote sessions with a certified health coach and digital content based on concepts fundamental to mindfulness practice. The PSS-10 was used to evaluate perceived stress. Of the 229 participants, 131 (57.2%) were considered program completers and provided at least one follow-up PSS-10. A secondared, digital mindfulness-based intervention may support program uptake and meaningful, sustained reduction in stress outcomes.At the transition from intrauterine to postnatal life, drastic alterations are mirrored by changes in cellular immunity. These changes are in part immune cell intrinsic, originate in the replacement of fetal cells, or result from global regulatory mechanisms and adaptation to changes in the tissue microenvironment. Overall, longer developmental trajectories are intersected by events related to mother-infant separation, birth cues, acquisition of microbiota and metabolic factors. Perinatal alterations particularly affect immune niches, where structures with discrete functions meet, the intestinal mucosa, epidermis and lung. Accordingly, the following questions will be addressed in this review.How does the preprogrammed development supported by endogenous cues, steer innate immune cell differentiation, adaptation to tissue structures, and immunity to infection?How does the transition at birth impact on tissue immune make-up including its topology?How do postnatal cues guide innate immune cell differentiation and function at immunological niches?Addressing gender and racial-ethnic disparities at all career stages is a priority for the research community. In this article, we focus on efforts to encourage mid-career women, particularly women of color, to move into leadership positions in science and science policy. We highlight the need to strengthen leadership skills for the critical period immediately following promotion to associate/tenured professor – when formal career development efforts taper off while institutional demands escalate – and describe a program called MAVEN that has been designed to teach leadership skills to mid-career women scientists, particularly those from underrepresented groups.During hunger or malnutrition, animals prioritize alimentation of the brain over other organs to ensure its function and, thus, their survival. This protection, also-called brain sparing, is described from Drosophila to humans. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms adapting carbohydrate transport. Here, we used Drosophila genetics to unravel the mechanisms operating at the blood-brain barrier (BBB) under nutrient restriction. During starvation, expression of the carbohydrate transporter Tret1-1 is increased to provide more efficient carbohydrate uptake. Two mechanisms are responsible for this increase. Similar to the regulation of mammalian GLUT4, Rab-dependent intracellular shuttling is needed for Tret1-1 integration into the plasma membrane; even though Tret1-1 regulation is independent of insulin signaling. In addition, starvation induces transcriptional upregulation that is controlled by TGF-β signaling. Considering TGF-β-dependent regulation of the glucose transporter GLUT1 in murine chondrocytes, our study reveals an evolutionarily conserved regulatory paradigm adapting the expression of sugar transporters at the BBB.

Sequence variants in the GJB2 gene account for up to 50% of cases of non-syndromic sensorineural hearing loss in the Caucasian population. In this study, we report the frequency of the less common variants of the GJB2 gene in a Portuguese sample and compare these frequencies with those of a group of hearing-impaired patients.

In order to select the less common GJB2 variants, 147 hearing-impaired patients followed in Centro Hospitalar Universitário de São João were evaluated. Afterwards, the presence of those variants was tested in 360 individuals from Generation 21.

The patient assessment enabled the selection of 11 GJB2 variants. Of those, 10 were investigated in Generation 21 participants, with only four being detected, in heterozygosity p.Phe83Leu, p.Arg127His, p.Val153Ile and p.Asn206Ser, with the allelicfrequencies (95% confidence interval) of 0.14% (0.01% – 0.87%), 0.28% (0.01% – 1.08%), 0.97% (0.43% – 2.04%) and 0.14% (0.01% – 0.88%), respectively. Two variants, p.Val37Ile and p.Val95Met, were moorting the relevance of their description.Tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is particularly challenging in low-resource settings such as Fort Portal Regional Referral Hospital (FPRRH) in Western Uganda. Specific knowledge of local AMR epidemiology is required to inform evidence-based improvement of antibiotic stewardship measures in the hospital. To address this, we combined existing antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) from FPRRH, with whole genome sequencing (WGS) of 41 Staphylococcus aureus isolates (2017-2019). AST revealed 73 % (30 of 41) of isolates were resistant to one or more antibiotics and 29 % (12 of 41) were multi-drug resistant (MDR). Resistance phenotypes were largely explained by the presence of antibiotic resistance genes in WGS data. Five isolates were methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and MDR. Abexinostat Although all isolates were susceptible to clindamycin, a 24 % carriage of erm genes suggests potential for rapid development of resistance. We inferred a population structure for the S. aureus isolates by comparing their coretions at FPRRH can be based.